Governor Cuomo announces the start up of the Green Bank of New York – the latest debutante of the Green Economy

Leaving New York always comes with a bit of a whoosh sound, as you are slipping and sliding hurrying to catch the plane cramming a last meeting in the train to get to JFK…

But this time the New York leg of my journey has been rather profitable. The administration of New York state has agreed to implement the learnings from England’s Green Bank creation, and to engage in a bit of the same enlightened action. Well Done…

A Cool Green Bank Start Up.

A great project.

After years of hard work, lobby and policy papers we are happy to report that Governor Cuomo of New York on his New York State address this January issued his well thought out proposal for the creation of a Green Bank in New York. This of course is for the legislative session ahead to consider and implement. All the same the fact that the Governor of the great state of New York, in his State of the State message stated his intent to create a $1 billion New York State Green Bank “to leverage public dollars with a private-sector match to spur the clean economy for the state of New York” speaks volumes for Green Capital.

The Environmental Parliament and Green Capital salutes and accepts this as the birth of the Green economy for New York and the nation. An important step going forward. Many years of hard work, countless meetings, zillions of proposals and diligent lobby have now come to fruition…

Grateful

Now on to the use of Green Bonds to augment the capital base of the Bank and finance viability for all New Clean Energies deployed in New York State..

The Governor’s message states that “a NY Green Bank offers a cost-effective market mechanism to capitalize on this opportunity, unleashing green technologies and the many benefits that will come with them.” It also states that “the NY Green Bank would overcome a number of obstacles and uncertainties in the clean energy sector, including unstable federal funding and policy, uncoordinated action and disparate one-time subsidies at the state level, a lack of appropriate financial instruments. The lowering of other barriers would enable clean energy markets to function more fluidly, connecting green projects with investors and capital.”

Governor Cuomo’s leadership in energy policy finance and innovation and this makes total sense here in the state of the Union that has the deepest and greatest financial markets the world over… Initially the banks and the banksters financing mountain top removal for coal, coal companies and the dirty coal factories, along with all the criminal Tar Sands financiers – hated this idea of mine, but now Wall Street has seen the light of day and love this. Because it brings money into the economy, it creates good jobs and transactions in their sector, and at the end of day makes good sense overall for value investment, long term capital support, risk mitigation and increased credit worthiness of the State and Country, by building resilience into the system. All Good.

New York has now joined the State of Connecticut in setting up the nation’s first green banks and the Coalition for Green Capital will be working this year in many other states to set up these banks under the helpful leadership of Reed Hundt – ex FCC chair and enlightened Co-operator.

It is proven that Green bank financing substantially lowers the cost of clean energy and moves us towards the goal of producing clean energy at levels lower than the price of existing dirty sources of energy. The fact that the green banks provide loans that will be repaid, and are not grants and giveaways is a great plus a the capital will course throughout the economy creating a virtuous cycle. And as Governor Cuomo’s said — green banks will take the burden of funding off of the taxpayers, and the green banks will provide many green jobs, bringing long-term benefits to society and the environment by contributing to the mitigation of climate change.

That’s how you built the Green Economy — a step at a time…

And all these “overnight successes” are fifteen years in the making — because this is how long has taken us to bring this brilliant effort to light of day. When I first floated this proposal in Wall Street more than 13 years ago, people thought it was crazy. And guess what they thought of me as well… Now it seems normal and very much in need. The issue with pioneers is that they get reviled first, renounced, attacked, and eventually embraced and accepted. Not so much the person as the ideas this person brought. Because the person – the pioneer – is still this angular edgy always running ahead at a million miles warp speed and can’t be embraced. But the ideas are cherished when the passage of time has ripened them. That’s the gift of the Innovators out there for all of society to embrace and enjoy. The Gift of an idea whose time has come…

Unstoppable.

And the pioneer keeps on giving more hard work pursuing worthy ideas and public service innovation… in serious need of the people’s leadership to embrace.

So it goes for me and New York: Here are a couple more things for the people to consider and press Albany to legislate and the Governor to enact.

Because I believe, that one day soon, not only we will be able to produce enough Clean, Renewable and Green Energy in New York state to alter the emissions profile of this great State and the City that never sleeps, help retire our climate debt, and stop treating our atmosphere like an open sewer — but also to clean up the air of New York itself, we all breathe.

And to make us all safer by also removing the criminal threat hanging over the people’s heads in New York and Manhattan like a Damocles sword. Because by building enough renewable energy beaseload we will be able to retire and shutter the threatening and über dangerous Indian Point Nuclear plant. The faulty Nuclear Energy nightmare of a plant – emitting it’s nuclear radiation isotopes daily — situated a mere 25 miles from Manhattan…

Because the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant was rated by EP as the most dangerous nuclear plant on earth due to it’s antiquated design, aged, faulty, & leaking infrastructure, and proximity to a vast population centre. No wonder that the Al Qaeda terrorists and Bin Laden had the Indian Point Nuclear plant as their number one target, when selecting their 9/11 attacks — but even they thought it was too much of a catastrophe to destroy New York and unleash a new Hiroshima upon the people of America…

Now after Fukushima’s nuclear melt down and complete devastation writ large in the surrounding Prefecture of Fukushima — we all know that our foolish disregard for the dangers of Nuclear Energy is a crime worse than terrorism. Human error, design failures, aging & failing infrastructure, severe storms and acts of nature, earthquakes, and the like, all can be more devastating than the criminal minds of terrorists. Indian Point Nuclear plant is a threat beyond what words can describe and we implore the Governor and the Mayor of New York to close it sooner rather than later…

Because it’s time to insure our future against that grave threat. Time to close now the Indian Point Nuclear Energy facility. And we can do this by enlightened leadership and legislative fiat, quickly. Or we can do this slowly by financing enough Green Energy to create an aggregated baseload of power, through the Green Bank and Green bonds finance — in order to replace the aging nuke’s perceived necessity.

Distributed power generation = People’s power… because it seems to me that with the political will lacking to shut down the aging nuclear plant we have to count on the people doing this.

Lot’s of work ahead to accomplish this…

Still remaining hopeful and optimistic that we’ll do this sooner rather than later.

Being in New York has it’s perks and rewards.

The Big Apple is all about Hard Work and more Hard Work…

Not complaining — instead thriving in it.

Go on and thrive yourself and bring new renewable energy projects to bask in the light of the New York Green Bank. Because the NYGB soon to open up it’s doors and spread goodness to all and sundry… needs your clean energy projects and expertise to finance the FUTURE

Yours,

Pano

PS:

Governor Cuomo also announced that former member of the Board of Directors of the Coalition for Green Capital, Richard Kauffman, will join his cabinet as the new Chairman for New York Energy Policy and Finance. One of his first responsibilities will be to develop the Governor’s newly proposed NY Green Bank. Richard Kauffman’s extensive work in the US Department of Energy as a senior advisor to Secretary Chu combined with experience in the private sector working for Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Good Energy, etc, ensures that New York’s energy programs and the newly christened Green Bank enjoy first rate leadership going ahead.

We’ll be there to help going forward and support this great initiative from the leading forward economic and banking State of New York…

And we’ll augment the capital of the Bank with the use of Green Bonds to close the financing loop of the Green Economy going forward and building great Green Energies of New York to compete with California…

Because we are actively building momentum in California for a Green Bank there … as well.